Siren Publishing / Rapture Publishing / BookStrand

Don't like the looks of the royalty structure, for POD, anyway:

15% of Cover price if sold through their website
19% of net if sold through other distribution channels

Rob

They're new. The contest is a way for them to get off the ground. I just read their contract, and it looks pretty standard for e-pubs. For example, it pays the same royalties on e-books and Liquid Silver and a bit better than a few other epubs.

The only thing I would advise is that you wait to sub to them for awhile. When they start releasing their books, buy a few to see what they're looking for, and make sure they're not going to fold after six months or something. Make sure they put out a consistent, quality product.

WRT publishers, isn't having a contest where the first prize is being published, well, redundant? Hasn't every book that gets published effectively done just that?

Waaaaaay back when Realms of Fantasy was new, Shawna McCarthy ran an editorial in which she told the people who wrote her suggesting a contest in which the best story submitted would be published in RoF (paraphrased), "That's what we do every issue."

I agree it's redundant, but I noticed people in the Romance and Romantic Erotica communities seem oddly entranced by them.

Seems Siren is doing well in erotica and branching out into mainstream romance through BookStrand. Anyone know much about how they treat authors? Any of you submit to them?

They bought the rights of the Triskelion authors and then gave them back to them.
http://www.sirenpublishing.com/inthenews/triskelion/#release

Wow. That says a lot about them. Must be a class act. Thanks for the information.

Waving shyly

I've gained so much valuable information from the generous authors here, I decided it was time I de-lurked and give a little something back.

(apologies in advance if this shows up 'off' somehow, technology is not my friend.)

I have 4 short stories and one full length contemporary romance with Wild Rose and a novella with Amira Press but I am not one to keep all my eggs in one basket (cliché ) I opted to query my most recent novella elsewhere. Based on the fact Siren/BookStrand has a 'village' of authors, not a facelss metropolis, and several unique interactive options coming soon (the ability for authors to sign in and track their sales etc) I sent a query to them (racy but far from erotic) on June 13. Had an email yesterday offering me a contract.

The editor was extremely positive and professional. She informed me my novella has been slated for January 09 publication and my cover will have a spot in the full page color add in Romantic Times.

So far I'm very impressed. Will keep you posted!

Lainey Bancroft said:

Had an email yesterday offering me a contract.

The editor was extremely positive and professional. She informed me my novella has been slated for January 09 publication and my cover will have a spot in the full page color add in Romantic Times.

So far I'm very impressed. Will keep you posted!

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Congratulations, Lainey!!

I received an email this morning from BookStrand offering me a contract for a contemporary romance novel, slated for e-pub in March '09, print in Aug. '09, so I'll keep everyone posted.

madmumbler said:

I received an email this morning from BookStrand offering me a contract for a contemporary romance novel, slated for e-pub in March '09, print in Aug. '09, so I'll keep everyone posted.

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Congratulations. BookStrand is publishing my first book in January. They have been a dream to work with so far.

Is anyone from Bookstrand/Siren willing to share sales numbers via PM?

Or indeed with ERECsite.com anonymously via PM and/or email.

I'd happily share #'s...but my novella doesn't release until January 09.

I can tell you a huge congratulations went out through the author's loop a day or so ago announcing an author had broken a Siren/Bookstrand record by selling over 100 copies in the first five hours after her book released!

So what do people think of them these days? They seem to do very well on Amazon.

I'm published at Siren and I have no complaints with them. They're very good at returning emails, and are quick with submissions. I have four contracts with them so far.

gingerwoman said:

So what do people think of them these days? They seem to do very well on Amazon.

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I have been nothing but pleased with BookStrand. Everyone there is professional and made the process of getting my first book published a wonderful experience. I always get a quick response whenever I have a question. My editor was very thorough. The cover artist really captured the story. I can't say enough good things about them.

Update from me -- I have two Tymber Dalton novels out with them so far, and I'm tickled to death. They've been great to work with, quick to respond to questions, and I was happily surprised to find out not only is my first Tymber Dalton novel going to be featured in their Feb. 2009 RT ad, it's also one of two on the RT website ad they placed.

They also have a real-time author sales tracker log in that is DA BOMB!!! I wish all my publishers could have a system like that. *LOL* I mean, you can sit there and hit refresh all day long and watch your sales numbers. *LOL* It only tracks e-sales on the BookStrand website, of course, not third-party sales, but day-yam! *LOL*

Lesli. (aka Tymber Dalton).

questions about siren bookstrand

Siren Bookstrand has offered to publish my first novel. I have also received interest from Wild Rose Press. Being very new to this I wanted to get anyone's opinion?

I know there's a thread for Wild Rose in Bewares and Background checks. Put Siren into the search box and see if there's one for it, too.

New URL: http://www.sirenbookstrand.com/